TV Shows For Men: 5 Archer

February 21, 2014

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After the untimely cancellation of Arrested Development (I still haven't forgiven Two And A Half Men or Charlie Sheen for stealing its ratings), television lacked for an intelligent comedy, something that reveled in punning and clever wordplay or didn't mind waiting episodes to develop a joke. Enter Archer, a cartoon spy show with an ensemble cast and writers stolen away from the late Arrested Development and given free reign by FX. The first four seasons took us inside ISIS, a spy agency run by matriarch Mallory Archer and captained by her son, the hard-drinking, fast-talking Sterling Archer. But in its fifth season, the writers got bored of the corner they'd painted themselves into and blew up the premise of the show, transforming what had been a clever parody of, well, pretty much every spy movie ever made, into Archer: Vice, in which said spies have been targeted by the feds for operating illegally and now have to sell a very large amount of cocaine just to survive.

If it all sounds absurd, that's because, well, it is, but it's aware of its own absurdities and plays with them, and us, to perfection.